How Integrative Medicine is Practiced in Clinics Across the United States

Integrative Medicine’s growth as a specialty in the United States has happened, in large part, because of the wide variety of illnesses and maladies that can be effectively treated using its tenets. A whole-person approach to medical care encompasses more than just symptom management. The practice of Integrative Medicine is not merely reactive. Symptom management through traditional medicine is important, of course, and a qualified practitioner of Integrative Medicine is more than capable of treating specific health threats. What the Bravewell Collaborative has found, though, is that patients throughout the country have begun to demand an increase in Integrative Medicine availability in a wide variety of fields.

In a recent study of 29 clinics around the country where Integrative Medicine is practiced, the Bravewell Collaborative found, among other things, that:

90 percent offer consultative care

62 percent offer comprehensive care

45 percent offer primary care

97 percent offer geriatric care

86 percent offer adolescent care

72 percent offer OB-GYN services

62 percent offer pediatric care

The list of most commonly treated conditions at the surveyed clinics reads like a daily patient list for any clinic or emergency department in America: chronic pain, gastrointestinal complaints, depression, stress, cancer, and more. What was truly unique about the survey was that it revealed that in half of the cases at those 29 clinics, interventions from four different types of treatment methods were employed: mind-body, dietary/biological, movement/energy, and manual intervention. This, more than anything else in the survey, demonstrated the broad-minded approach that Integrative Medicine has become known for among the general public.

The Bravewell study concluded that the “strong affiliations to hospitals, healthcare systems, and medical and nursing schools as well as the [29] centers’ collaborative work with and growing referrals from their own health systems that Integrative Medicine is now an established part of healthcare in the United States.”

This fact led to the development of the American Board of Integrative Medicine (ABOIM) by the American Board of Physician Specialties (ABPS). To learn more, or for information about eligibility requirements for the ABOIM, contact the ABPS. The ABPS is the official certifying body of the American Association of Physician Specialists, Inc.